Kansas sues Pfizer over ‘misleading statements’ about COVID vaccine

The state of Kansas filed a lawsuit Monday against pharmaceutical company Pfizer, alleging the company made “misleading claims” about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and the risks associated with the vaccine.

The suit, filed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) in Thomas County District Court claims Pfizer misled Kansas residents about the risks of the company’s COVID-19 shot when it claimed it was safe and allegedly hid evidence of the injection’s link to myocarditis and pregnancy issues.

Pfizer allegedly also gave residents a false impression when it claimed its vaccine was effective, but “knew” the vaccine diminished over time and did not protect against COVID-19 variants, the complaint states.

“Pfizer made several misleading statements to mislead the public about its vaccine at a time when Americans needed the truth,” Kobach said in a statement.

The lawsuit argued that Pfizer’s statements and language surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine were a violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. The state is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

In June 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning in relation to myocarditis and pericarditis, both rare conditions of cardiac inflammation, to the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

A review of several COVID-19 vaccine studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health last year found no evidence that the vaccines are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage.

The pharmaceutical company is further accused of working with social media officials to “censor speech critical” of COVID-19 vaccines and trying to avoid government oversight, Kobach’s office said Monday.

Pfizer, in a statement to The Hill, said the case is “without merit” and plans to respond to the lawsuit in “due time.”

“We are proud to have developed the COVID-19 vaccine in record time in the middle of a global pandemic and to have saved countless lives. The statements made by Pfizer about its COVID-19 vaccine were accurate and based on science,” the company said, later adding: “Patient safety is our number one priority, which is why we follow safety protocols and diligent monitoring.”

Kobach’s lawsuit follows Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s complaint filed last fall, which similarly accuses Pfizer of misrepresenting the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Paxton alleged that Pfizer gave the impression that its vaccine would end the COVID-19 pandemic and that the company’s claims that its vaccine was 95 percent effective were misleading.

More than 366 million doses of Pfizer’s original coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the U.S., per cent of federal data. Oresults of an effectiveness analysisof the company’s original COVID-19 vaccine, launched in November 2020, found that the shot was 95 percent effective against COVID-19 28 days after the first dose.

Like Kobach, Paxton also accused the company of using social media to “bully” and “silence prominent truth tellers,” including former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who sits on Pfizer’s board of directors. and was a prominent voice on immunization practices. during the pandemic.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story